June 05 2014

Behind the Numbers: Convene's 2014 Salary Survey

By Convene Staff

Among the numbers reported in Convene’s 2014 Salary Survey was a large gap between the average salary of the female respondents — $72,880 — compared with male respondents, whose average paycheck was $102,222. That’s a big difference — and the numbers on their own can’t really tell us very much about gender equity and salaries in the female-dominated meetings industry (more than 90 percent of the survey respondents were female).

But it’s an interesting question, and one that Carrie Ferenac, of Convention News Television, took up with Lisa Block, CMP, vice president for meetings and conferences at the Society for Human Resource Management, who offered a long-term view of the industry. “When I first started the men were at the top and the women were making their way to the top,” Block said. "Now there are as many women at the top — if not more.”

In addition to pay equity, Block talked about salary from a variety of perspectives — including geography, when you should focus on salary and how to approach negotiations, and the satisfactions that can come from working in the meeting profession.